(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contact structures of wirings and methods for manufacturing the same, and thin film transistor array panels including the same and methods for manufacturing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, wiring of semiconductor devices is to transmit signals without delay.
In order to prevent delay or distortion of signals, materials having a low resistivity such as aluminum or aluminum alloys are generally used. However, the physical and the chemical properties of the aluminum or aluminum alloy is not good. In other words, the aluminum or aluminum alloy is easily oxidized and broken, when connecting other conductive material in a contact portions. Accordingly, the characteristics of semiconductor devices are deteriorated. Especially, it causes problems when ITO (indium tin oxide) as a transparent electrode such as in a liquid crystal display is used to reinforce pad portions of aluminum. However, because of the poor contact properties between aluminum or aluminum alloy and indium tin oxide (ITO), the aluminum or aluminum alloy must be removed to prevent the corrosion of aluminum and aluminum alloy and a different material is then inserted therebetween. Accordingly, the manufacturing method is complicated and production costs are increased.
In general, a thin film transistor array panel is manufactured by a photolithography process. Since the photolithography process is expensive, the number of the photolithography steps needs to be minimized.